


Seeing the Face of Time

by MageKing17



Category: Babylon 5
Genre: Being the only one who remembers alternate timeline(s), Gen, Lots of time skips, Luis Santiago lives, Marcus Cole is mentioned but not present, Pre-Fix-It?, Season 1, Time Skips, Vorlons Being Cryptic, no beta we die like dumbasses, partly because the exact details aren't the focus and partly because I barely remember what happened
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:02:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29265474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MageKing17/pseuds/MageKing17
Summary: Susan Ivanova is just about to start her shift when she receives a telepathic download from her future self.
Relationships: Susan Ivanova & Kosh
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18
Collections: Past Imperfect Future Unknown 2020





	Seeing the Face of Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DesertVixen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertVixen/gifts).



> I have (unfortunately) not rewatched Babylon 5 recently, so I probably forgot something major that probably should've been mentioned. Still, I love this show and I couldn't help but write for it anyway.
> 
> I've also never written Babylon 5 fic before, nor even _read_ any Babylon 5 fic (nor even any of the books, or comics... rewatched the show about a million times, but _just_ the show), so apologies if there's any widely-accepted fanon or canon detail from the extended universe I wasn't aware of that you were hoping I'd include.

Susan Ivanova abruptly realizes her shift isn't going to be uneventful when a thousand ill-fitting memories—like knives of recollection—stab through her brain. She grits her teeth and squeezes her eyes shut, but it doesn't help; images appear regardless of her eyes being covered, as though watching a hundred home videos simultaneously, in fast-forward.

"Commander?"

Her grip on her console tightens to stop herself from swaying. In spite of the pain, she makes no noise—she understands enough of what is happening to know that it has something to do with her latent telepathy; if she suddenly yelped in pain and started clutching her head, it would hardly help her keep a low profile.

"Commander? Are you all right?"

Corwin's voice; no doubt wondering why she abruptly tensed and shut her eyes. _Better respond before he calls a doctor._

"I'm fine," she lies—only it's not quite a lie, it's more of a promise: she _will_ be all right. She will make it so.

"If you say so," Corwin murmurs dubiously, but he fortunately doesn't push it.

The seemingly-endless torture of memories comes to an abrupt halt, although she's still stuck with a throbbing headache. Her eyes snap open; the date, what's the current date?

July 14th, 2258. Not... _ideal_ , but not terrible; just after Babylon 4's reappearance. President Santiago was still alive. Garibaldi hadn't yet been shot in the back. Sinclair was still in command.

Susan frowned; _after_ Babylon 4's reappearance. That was not the plan. The anomaly should've been in a dormant state right now; then again, perhaps it had still been in flux after the evacuation. Regardless, she had things she needed to do, and she needed to be about them as quickly as possible.

...Although first, she needed to finish her shift. Allowing herself a small sigh, she shook her head and called up the day's schedule.

* * *

She almost wasn't surprised that Ambassador Kosh was waiting for her after her shift ended.

"The river is not an ocean," Kosh said in typical cryptic Vorlon fashion. "You cannot swim upstream without consequences."

"I _want_ there to be consequences," Susan snapped back. "Maybe a few more _consequences_ would've gotten people to get off their asses sooner."

"Remember what happened to Sinclair," came the parting shot as Kosh left.

She didn't bother asking how the Vorlon knew what had happened; she'd never get a straight answer anyway, and honestly, it wouldn't surprise her to discover that the Vorlons could eavesdrop on the entire exchange.

"I remember fucking damn well what happened," she snarled to herself, then took a deep breath—she was still off-balance from the memory transfer and the headache. _Focus. Get your shit together, soldier._

She had some people to visit.

* * *

"Did you hear? Jack was arrested as a traitor."

Susan smirked into her coffee; it was amazing the things you could overhear in the mess.

"No! What happened?"

_Well, someone may have _accidentally_ left his personal files lying around—mysteriously decrypted—and then called in an anonymous tip._

"The whole thing got classified within minutes, but I heard he had some _very_ incriminating files in his quarters; the Chief was pissed when he arrested him."

A shame she didn't get the chance to punch him in the face, but she'd have to settle for making sure Santiago found out his vice president was plotting his murder.

Not that Jack's files included that little tidbit (it would be surprising indeed if he'd had any data relevant to that _this_ far in advance), but she didn't _technically_ forge evidence; she truthfully reported that she'd seen the relevant files and what they'd contained. She just may have left out exactly _where_ and _when_ she'd seen them.

The fact that they'd assume she'd seen them among Jack's confiscated files—or that they'd further assume some co-conspirator had erased them in an attempt to hide Clark's malfeasance—wasn't really _her_ fault; after all, everything she'd written was the truth, and that would pan out when they chased down leads to verify her report.

 _I wonder if Bester will show up in person this time, instead of sending Colonel Ben Zayn and Mr. Gray,_ Susan mused, as she downed the last of her coffee. _Well, first, we'll have to deal with the magical disappearing corpse, and fight for custody of Alisa with Talia—_

Susan abruptly slammed her cup down and forced herself to breathe; _I can't think about that right now. Think about something else._

Delenn stealing Bramner's body would cause a minor diplomatic incident, but it was ultimately an internal squabble—more importantly, she needed Alisa _not_ to notice something off in her thoughts. She was fairly good, by now, at not being noticed as a latent telepath (Alisa hadn't noticed the first time through, after all), but it would be much more difficult to avoid thinking about the future in her presence. She briefly considered simply not being near the girl... but she couldn't just leave her be, for the same reason as last time. She didn't deserve to be forced into the Psi Corps.

She sighed and rubbed her temples; she only had a few days to make a decision.

* * *

_This was a mistake._

"Have I done something recently to particularly offend you, Commander?" Talia Winters asked.

Susan kept her face blank through sheer force of will. "To be blunt, every time I see your uniform I'm offended; but no, you haven't done something recently."

It felt like a lie, even though it was the truth; it took all her restraint not to grab her and shout, 'Was it worth it, damn it? _Was it worth it_?'

She held back, though; not only would Talia not have a clue what she was talking about, but she might tip off Control that she knew something was wrong. Plus, somewhat selfishly, she couldn't help but want to keep Talia's personality "alive" for as long as possible.

Susan had no idea what she'd do when Lyta showed up. "If you'll excuse me, I have work to do."

Talia would probably assume it was a lie, since her shift had just ended, but in truth, she did most of her work off-duty these days.

* * *

"That's the fifth Homeguard fanatic we've arrested this week," Garibaldi muttered. "Those files were a real stroke of luck."

"Yeah," Susan said without a trace of irony, "we got real lucky."

* * *

"I can't believe the vice president was involved in this conspiracy."

"Believe it," Susan muttered. "He was convicted this morning; the evidence was undeniable."

Corwin shook his head in disbelief. "What is the world coming to...?"

* * *

Susan's eyes widened and she ducked down a side passage as quickly as she dared without looking like she was fleeing; she'd been careful to avoid Morden throughout his visit, but apparently she couldn't _completely_ avoid him.

Although she hadn't expected to run into Kosh down this hallway.

"Do not let them see you," Kosh said, unusually straightforward.

She rolled her eyes. "Wasn't planning on it."

Kosh gave no indication of noticing her sarcasm. "If they see you, they will know, and all will end in fire."

"I could've guessed that all by myself," she muttered.

"You do not understand, yet," Kosh insisted. "If you go to Arisia, they will see you."

Susan felt like her blood had been replaced with liquid nitrogen. "You expect me to just—?"

"Yes," Kosh insisted. "If you go to Arisia, everything will have been for naught, and he will die anyway."

She worked her jaw wordlessly for a few moments, too worked up to stay silent but equally too worked up to form words. Her fists clenched so hard she wouldn't be surprised to find she'd drawn blood, as she shook with the urge to punch that stupid encounter-suited face.

She refrained (obviously). She might still be off-kilter ever since the memory transfer, but she was still a soldier. She would not lose control so easily.

"Do you remember... dying?" she finally asked.

Kosh paused. "I have always been here." With that, the Vorlon left.

Susan sighed. "...About what I expected, really."

_'Short, to the point, utterly useless, and totally consistent with what I've come to expect from a Vorlon.' You said it best, John._

* * *

"You're not sleeping well."

Susan snorted. "Tell me something I don't know."

Sinclair frowned. "If this is about the recall order—"

"It's not," she insisted. She'd known this was coming, after all; the Minbari requested his new role as Ambassador, so Santiago still being alive wouldn't change it.

It certainly wasn't because she was thinking about Marcus's brother dying in half a year.

Definitely not.

That's her story, and she's sticking to it.

...Damn Kosh and his stupid warning, anyway.

Of course, it didn't help that she still felt like her skull was a size too small, but if nothing else, she was acclimated to it by now.

"If there's anything I can do for you..." Sinclair offered.

"Take care of—" _Marcus_ "—yourself," Susan said.

He smiled. "You too."

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not entirely sure why my muse chose the end of season 1 as the stopping point when I'd originally intended to show her meeting Marcus again, but I've stopped arguing with my brain about these things.
> 
> ...yes, the title (and Kosh's first line) is a Prince of Persia: Sands of Time reference


End file.
